SWAT wrecks house while searching for fugitive who wasn't there
Police gassed and ransacked a woman's house searching for a criminal they mistakenly believed was inside. Her lawyers say she's owed compensation for the damage.
Police officers wearing gas masks combed through Amy Hadley's home, looking in every room. Shards of glass glinted on the floor and in the tangled bedding. Officers opened cupboards, drawers and even the oven.
But the man they were looking for wasn't there. And Hadley was left to pick up the pieces of her broken house.
Now, a new lawsuit seeks to force the city of South Bend, Indiana, as well as St. Joseph County, to compensate Hadley under the Fifth Amendment's Takings Clause for the damage done to her home during the June 10, 2022, SWAT raid.
Police fired dozens of tear gas canisters into Amy Hadley's home, then turned the place upside down looking for a murder suspect they believed was using her IP address, according to a new lawsuit seeking compensation for the damage. Even though the IP address appeared to be used while police had the house under surveillance, the suspect was not there. (Courtesy Institute for Justice)
"If you take property, you need to pay for it," said Hadley's attorney, Marie Miller, who practices with the Institute for Justice, a nonprofit civil rights law firm. "It's a simple concept that many of us understand and are familiar with, but it's not one that the city and county have recognized here."
Police were searching for a murder suspect on the day of the raid. They put a trace on his Facebook account and, according to a police report, were told by the internet service provider that the IP address the suspect was using to log in belonged to Hadley.
St. Joseph County officers and U.S. Marshals started surveilling the house as they waited for a warrant. While police were outside, the IP address was logged into again, according to the report, which Hadley's lawyers shared with Fox News.
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About an hour later, warrant in hand, police began shouting through a bullhorn, ordering anyone in the house to come outside with their hands up. At first, 15-year-old Noah Hadley thought the sound was part of his video game. Then he heard police yell his address.
Terrified and confused, he walked out the front door with his hands raised.
"That's not him," an officer can be heard saying on body cam video, rifle aimed toward Noah as the teen walked to the street. But the police handcuffed him and took him to the station anyway, ignoring his assurance that no one else was in the house, according to the lawsuit filed Friday in St. Joseph County Circuit Court.
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A neighbor called Hadley to tell her about the commotion, and she rushed home with her daughter. Crime scene tape stopped them near the end of the block, but they could see police officers and a SWAT vehicle in front of their house.
Police showed them a picture of the suspect. Both women said they had no idea who the man was. They said they had security cameras and would know if a stranger had gone into the house, the suit states. Hadley's daughter asked police to be careful because their cat was inside the house.
But after a while, the suspect appeared to use the IP address again, and SWAT gassed the house, according to the police report.
Miller said they launched dozens of tear gas canisters and flash-bang grenades through the windows and front door. Officers ransacked the house, flipping over furniture, tearing down fixtures, punching holes in the walls and destroying family photos and belongings, according to the suit.
Once they were sure the suspect wasn't there, police left the Hadley family with an uninhabitable home that reeked of toxic fumes.
Officers donned gas masks to search Amy Hadley's house after gassing it. Body camera video shows broken windows, torn up walls and flooring and overturned furniture and other belongings. (Courtesy Institute for Justice)
Four days later, police arrested the man they were looking for, 30-year-old John Parnell Thomas. He was initially charged with murder relating to another man's shooting death, but later pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
Miller said they don't know what went wrong with the IP trace, but that there was never any connection between Thomas and the Hadleys.
"The raid turned our lives and our home upside down," Hadley said in a statement provided to Fox News. "The police clearly made a huge mistake, but there has never been an apology for the way we were treated or an offer to cover the damage. If one of the agencies won’t take responsibility, I hope the court will make them."
Hadley's insurance paid for some — but not all — of the damage, making her lucky compared to others who have had their homes damaged or destroyed by police raids. Many insurance policies exclude damage caused by the government.
The lawsuit seeks compensatory damages from the city and county governments, and their respective police departments, under the Fifth Amendment. Police were within their rights to "take" Hadley's house for the purpose of pursuing a suspect, but both the Indiana and U.S. constitutions require just compensation, according to the suit.
Neither the city nor county responded to a request for comment.
Amy Hadley, center, is suing the city of South Bend, Indiana, and St. Joseph County after law enforcement badly damaged her house looking for a murder suspect they thought was using her internet. (Courtesy Institute for Justice)
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"Usually the public as a whole pays for law enforcement services, and that's what should happen here," Miller said. "The government used Amy's property and took it in furtherance of that public aim. And so it should be the public as a whole that bears that cost, not Amy by herself, who was innocent in all of this."
To see video of the raid, click here.
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